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Scott Sonnenberg · The ROAR Podcast

• Adam: Welcome to the Roar Podcast. I'm your host, Adam Grossman. With me today is Scott Sonnenberg. Scott, welcome to the podcast. Brice Clinton: What does actually look like to build the greatest basketball arena in the world from the ground up and then sell it? Scott Sonnenberg has spent 22 years in the NBA, first with the Chicago Bulls, where he helped turn a scrappy partnership department into a global revenue machine. Scott: Thanks, good to be with you. Adam: Well, we're excited to have you on. Obviously a lot going on in the world of Los Angeles Clippers, but we like to start ⁓ podcast where we start all of our podcasts, which is tell us a little bit more about yourself and how you got to the position of Chief Commercial Officer at the Clippers. Brice Clinton: But it was a call from Los Angeles and a mandate from Steve Ballmer to build something the world has never seen that led him to his role as chief commercial officer of the Los Angeles Clippers. In this episode, Scott takes us inside the Intuit Dome, how they landed a naming rights partner days before groundbreaking, why they built three times the industry standard number of restrooms, and how a candy crush partnership is literally getting fans to run back to their seats after halftime. Scott: Sure. I've been in the NBA for 22 years. I got my start ⁓ the Bulls back 2004. ⁓ Steve was the executive vice president at the time, brought me in to oversee partnerships department. ⁓ At the there was just a couple of sellers and one activation person. So we were pretty small in size. You know, within a year or so, we brought our radio rights in-house and suddenly my team doubled in size and... Brice Clinton: Scott and Adam get into the halo board, the wall, the cabana suites, and how it all ties back to a singular, relentless vision. Put fans in their seats, cheering, with their faces or ticket, and their data powering every moment. They close the discussion with a conversation about AI and whether technology is a friend or foe of the live sports experience. ⁓ answer to those questions might surprise you. Scott: And it was off to the races. I we had quite a bit of success when we brought our rights in house ⁓ selling, bringing a lot of new partners ⁓ board. As continue to grow within that role, down the road I was later promoted to Vice President of Corporate Sales. that came ⁓ responsibility with ⁓ so overseeing game entertainment experience with the Bulls. And if you've been to a Bulls game, they've got some of the best entertainment in all of sports. ⁓ So really of ⁓ that team what they've done. Brice Clinton: I'm Bryce Clinton and this is the Roar Podcast. Scott: there and certainly before as bulls were ⁓ I like some of the pioneers ⁓ in entertainment. But my for the most part was on the sales side ⁓ and again, we had a lot of success. I I was really proud of when we were there. We really to leverage ⁓ the strength overseas and bringing partners ⁓ from So we started traveling the world and ⁓ brought partner on from ⁓ Poland all different parts of world, China and the Philippines, ⁓ and on and And the Bulls continue to do that as they are a global ⁓ powerhouse in world sports. So I was excited to be a part of that. Once renewed our United Naming Rights Deal, we started building a little plaza ⁓ or atrium is what we called it, and then additional office space. And was ⁓ a great place to work. ⁓ was ⁓ great environment. Loved working for ⁓ Michael ⁓ during time there. But then feel like ⁓ once the was built and I was in my new office, I remember ⁓ very ⁓ ⁓ out the skyline in this big, beautiful office that was just built and thinking, gosh, I feel uncomfortably right now. And I'm ready for new challenge and it was about that time that the Clippers had reached out to me. Steve Ballmer had acquired the Clippers a few years in advance and was building out his executive team and a reached out to me to talk me about the opportunity. I was, you know, I wouldn't I jumped on it right away but I was ⁓ open to the conversation the more I learned it from the recruiter and then the person that eventually became my Gillian Zucker, our CEO. I was excited. I was excited about the challenge of building a new stadium. was excited about the advancements in technology that we would introduce through the new stadium and to be able to sell it was something really, really exciting for me. Now at the time, the Clippers were towards the bottom in sponsorship revenue. We were ⁓ tenant in a building ⁓ Staples Center then, now crypto.com arena. And so I also looked at it as ⁓ there's a lot of lot of really positives here ⁓ the trajectory is nowhere ⁓ up. You with building a new stadium and ⁓ being to control all of that revenue ⁓ it just a unique opportunity so I was excited to get the the offer and then make the move and that was about eight years ago. since then have grown my department in size on both the partnership marketing, our partnership strategy, partnership sales. And then a few years ago, I took on premium seating about a year prior to opening into a dome. so overseeing all of those relationships on premium and partnerships department what I do now. ⁓ Adam: Yeah, there's a lot there and you know, obviously also I'm from the Chicago area or now live in the Chicago area, maybe made an upgrade on the weather situation. I'm sure that didn't hurt the conversation. ⁓ Scott: Yeah, that helped. mean, that was not a tough sell to my wife. My wife's from Mexico City and I'm like, hey, we can move to California. She's like, I'm in. So we enjoyed it out here, our recruiting trip and found a great place to live out here. So it's been a great move for us and for the kids, for the family. Adam: Yeah Yeah, I mean, obviously the Mexico City and LA weather are very light, although Chicago does actually have a very big Latino and Hispanic community here, which is also ⁓ But like you're also moving to obviously another great area from that perspective. ⁓ Scott: Absolutely. Yep. Adam: One question that actually was potentially talked about with the Clippers, but you brought it up with your Bulls is the idea of these international partnership opportunities and building a global ⁓ ⁓ global relationships in the context while also having to think about the DMA and the local ⁓ Can you talk about that and how that's, ⁓ think that's a conversation that lot of MBA teams have, is there's these global opportunities, but also having to ⁓ the local DMA. ⁓ Scott: I mean, when you look at the NBA and the four major sports leagues in the US, nobody does a better job of reaching its fans globally than the NBA. And it shows in our social media numbers. I mean, we're way ahead of ⁓ next ⁓ which is the NFL, ⁓ ⁓ social media ⁓ So the NBA is really to credit for that. ⁓ We our preseason games that we have overseas. We have ⁓ even now in-season ⁓ games are played overseas. NBA has done a fantastic job of leveraging those ⁓ to introduce us to new partners there as well. ⁓ And we forward being able to travel overseas and playing some games. also but we've done a great job of being able to leverage that and we've brought a few on from ⁓ over the years ⁓ look forward to continuing to grow that. ⁓ NBA's done a great job of ⁓ talent in from overseas and ⁓ teams have been able to leverage that for partnerships well. Yeah, the NBA is fantastic expanding ⁓ game ⁓ and the teams take advantage of that. Adam: Yeah, you obviously mentioned everybody knows Angeles is a two-team market ⁓ the have historically been, ⁓ obviously, team that has a lot of residents in the market. So how do you think about that in your current job where you're trying to obviously maximize revenue across multiple different revenue streams? But that's got to be something that you guys, how do you expand global or how do you expand reach, clearly within Los Angeles, but also outside of Los Angeles as well? ⁓ Scott: Yeah, we don't really think about the Lakers. I'm sure they don't really think about us either. You know, ⁓ have their niche ⁓ their fan base. We have ours. They partners that gravitate towards them. We have partners that gravitate towards ⁓ us. feel that we have now built a basketball arena that's ⁓ the greatest arena in the world without question. And so, ⁓ you your previous was about kind of, you know, the global reach. building into a dome has really enhanced that global reach for us. hear from teams ⁓ week that us questions about how did you do this, how did you incorporate that technology, and why did you do this? you know, we've really become the standard for venues. And I also believe we're well in front of it. You know, there's things that we did at Intuit Dome that you may not see for a few more years from other new stadiums that are getting built. So we've become kind of that team that a lot of others who are thinking about building stadiums or going through renovations are reaching out to us. you know, LA is a competitive marketplace. the Lakers, got a dozen other professional teams and major college sports programs, there's space for everyone. You know, I think one thing that we really found a lot of pride in is showing through our partnerships. We work with a lot of third-party agencies that allow us to ⁓ kind show an ROI on ⁓ what doing from a partnership standpoint. ⁓ We try to create partnerships that are unique, that are one of one, that you won't find anywhere else. that but yeah there's space for everyone and we're really proud of ⁓ team that we have here ⁓ the ⁓ that we get from our partners that we've brought on board. ⁓ Adam: Well, you're talking a bunch of sweet spots for us on this podcast in terms of new technology teams asking you, I can't let, guess, even though this is basketball oriented podcast, can't let the pitch go by when you talk about partnerships and ROI and unique partnership opportunities. What are some of the numbers that you're seeing and what are some of the unique opportunities that you guys are able to provide to partners? Scott: Well, it goes beyond just eyeballs and impressions that people see. I we take a lot of pride in understanding exactly what our partners are hoping to accomplish through a relationship with the Clippers. I mean, you can start right there with naming rights. We were out in the market for a few years in advance to potential partners about ⁓ rights. And a part of that, ⁓ we're what a ⁓ wants and they believe in ⁓ as an organization and do those goals align with ours and with Intuit they align perfectly. You we wanted to create greatest fan experience in world in sports. Intuit is trying to create the greatest customer experience for small businesses. We wanted to utilize technology ⁓ in order to that. Intuit is trying to maximize technology in their space to be able to deliver great customer service and great results for for those people that their platform. platforms. Sustainability. ⁓ is a hot topic with every organization, or if it's not, it should be. Steve Ballmer, ⁓ to knowledge, contributes more towards sustainability efforts than anybody else in the And that says lot about how important it is for him in building a stadium that ⁓ he wants to able to make an impact ⁓ on. on the environment as a result of that stadium being built. know, Intuit Dome is 100 % solar operated. We've got massive batteries that allow us to store the power that we generate from those solar panels in those batteries that were built for us. And we can even operate in a four-hour blackout in Los Angeles if we needed to. And, you know, it goes all the way down to the concrete that we poured. The concrete that we poured was better for the environment than traditional concrete. Now it was significantly more expensive, but that was just kind of some of the things that were on our minds when we were building Intuit Dome. We wanted it to be all about sustainability. There's no gas running through the building. I mean, it's 100 % electric. So all of those things were important to us. And when we told Intuit about this vision that we have, they're like, well, sustainability is important for us too. That's a story that we want to be able to tell. So there was just a lot of synergies between us and them that allowed us to create a partnership around it and be able to tell the stories that we both to tell. And I think ⁓ what makes a great partnership is when you have those ⁓ and can tell ⁓ ⁓ because your values are alive. ⁓ Adam: Yeah, I mean, obviously people know this podcast as a numbers and quantitative driven podcast that we talk a lot about numbers and data, but narrative is really important. And one of things that we like to focus on or talk about is numbers and narrative and aligning narratives and the companies that live their values and organically can talk about their values through the partnerships is really important. So I think whether it's into it or some of the other partners that you have, know, what when you talk about having the best arena for fans, I think it's really interesting. All the things that you've done again, I want to dive into that, but explicitly for the partnership perspective, when you're saying we're developing the best experience for fans, how does that come through from a partnership perspective? Are partners really seeing all the stuff that you're doing and engaging with what's happening inside the venue? Scott: Yeah, well they helped deliver it. They helped deliver that great experience. So kind of take you through the experience at Intuit ⁓ you know, include some partners in how they help bring it to life. You know, what's different about Intuit Dome is everybody has to have their own ticket. So we control the identity of everybody that comes through the building, ⁓ and that's through our relationship with Ticketmaster. Now, ⁓ that ⁓ an ⁓ relationship to we have, I Ticketmaster's but we were asking them to do something that hasn't been done before. ⁓ Because in typical venue, you may download the Ticketmaster app, and then your ticket sits there. ⁓ At Intuit you're actually downloading the Intuit Dome app. Everybody's got to have their own ticket. And the reason why is we want to that experience for each individual fan. ⁓ when you download the app and you set up an account, and you set up your Gameface ID, ⁓ your Gameface ID becomes your ticket to get into the building. It becomes your credit card to buy things. You walk into a concession stand, it recognizes you, the gate opens, you grab whatever you want, and you go sit down. It becomes your ID as well. If you'd like to purchase alcohol in the building, your Gameface ID allows you to do that. So once you download the app and it takes 90 seconds and you have put everything in there, you can then navigate your way around into a dome without having to take out your phone, without having to show anything. You can just walk seamlessly. And when you're sitting in the venue and you want to go grab something to eat, you just go and grab it. The gate opens and you don't have to wait in the line. You don't have to get out of credit card. You just seamlessly it as if you're sitting in your own home. ⁓ explained it when we were talking about the vision for Intuit Dome, he said, I want people to come to Intuit Dome and experience the game as if they're sitting in their own family room with 18,000 of their closest friends. Now, what does that mean? Well, if I'm sitting in my family room and I want to go to the fridge and grab something to drink, I just get up and grab it. Same experience at Intuit Dome. You know, there's a lot of talk about restrooms as well. ⁓ lot of sound ⁓ Steve talking about restrooms because he doesn't want lines. What do people hate when they come to buildings? They hate lines. Adam: it. Yeah, Yeah, well, I just to stop you on that point, that is something that we, one of the common things we talk about from a data perspective is a gap analysis. And frequently, you know, people rate what's important versus what actually is working. One of the highest gap analysis that you see consistently is restrooms, both terms of weight lines, in terms of, you know, there's a lot of different things about restrooms. So I actually shared his enthusiasm about restrooms, because that is the number one thing that can really be optimized, or one of the number one things. ⁓ wanted to put that in there, that I am actually very supportive of that. ⁓ Scott: Yeah. Yeah, yeah, absolutely. Everybody is, you know, it's one of the pain points that people have when going to venues. They don't want to wait in line because you're waiting in line, you're missing the action. And our biggest thing was we want people in the bowl watching the game without having to wait in line. So how do we solve for that? We actually didn't need technology to solve for that. We just ⁓ upon restrooms in the building. We have three times the number of restrooms that you would find in a typical venue. Adam: exact. Yeah, I think that's also a good point is just like technology isn't always the way to move things forward, right? Exactly. In this case, it's listening to the fans, understanding what fans would want and driving them back to their seats, which is obviously Steve and the whole organization's goal. thing you mentioned earlier, and I want to bring it back to the... point of entry and using your face and downloading the Clippers app. You mentioned that other teams are reaching out clearly besides the toilets, probably the number one thing that people talk about from a fan experience is the entry and is this experience with Ticketmaster. Is that the thing that people are reaching out to you the most about? Or is it something else inside the arena? Because it is novel and it is something that certainly is one of the things that I'm most interested in when I think about the Intuit Dome. Scott: Yeah, that's certainly at the top of the list. ⁓ technology in the building just not for technology's sake, but to enhance the game ⁓ experience, ⁓ eliminate lines. ⁓ questions we're hearing from venues are, ⁓ what ⁓ did use and why did you choose them? Because in every one of these areas, we've got multiple partners to choose from, ⁓ and not always driven by sponsorship. ⁓ We that each of these partners do a sponsorship of some ⁓ level with as a part of the relationship but if the technology of one is better than another we are always towards the better technology because it really is all about the fan experience. And so yeah we wanted to work with trusted partners ⁓ in space. So Clear, is one that every airport that walk into you know that you can trust Clear and so we thought well ⁓ we want people know they can trust us as well and let's align ourselves with someone that everybody knows and so we have a relationship with clear just for one example. And then there's multiple others. Adam: everybody's recently with TSA, everybody's wanting to have a more stronger relationship with clear. Scott: Yeah, exactly, exactly. So people know who they are. one, again, one of many examples that we have in the technology partners that we and why we chose them. And then, ⁓ you a partner ⁓ standpoint, wanted bring partners that would enhance the experience as well. ⁓ know, AT is a great partner of ours. pitch them our vision of Intuit Dome and everything that we're wanting to do and they said, gosh, this is going to be an area that we can really showcase our technology to. So we're going to build this massive dome-like. build out on the the terrace level of Intuit Dome where you can create your own virtual world within it. It's unlike anything I've seen in any other venue. And then we highlight and showcase what that world is that these individuals created or these fans created our Halo board. And we've been able to connect a partner like AT &T with ⁓ the ⁓ in of helping them tell their story through a one of one Halo scoreboard that is unlike other that you've seen in the NBA. So that's one way that we may tie the partner together. Adam: Yeah, how do you come up with like, you know, obviously that's a novel idea. Clearly the Halo board was something that the team also emphasized, but creating these novel stories, narratives, I mean, that's novel. So how do you come up with these ideas who, you know, where's kind of the inspiration from? Because these are all obviously out of the box thinking ideas that are not typical in the industry. Scott: Yeah, I mean a lot of it is driven by what partner objectives may be. you know, we may sell a platform on the terrace and then tell AT &T that, this is what our vision is for Intuit Dome. How can you help us better tell the story and how can you kind of help tell yours as well? So then they brainstorm with their agency and they come back to us with a few different ideas. And so, you know, in that instance, a lot of it was driven by AT &T and us just trying to align ourselves with ⁓ and again vice versa to create a really unique and cool experience that fans when they get to the top of the terrace, ⁓ want to check it out because ⁓ not going to see anything like it in the NBA. And AT &T delivers experiences like that. We have a new partner with Candy Crush this year ⁓ where actually went to them and said, hey, ⁓ we a challenge that we want you to help us solve. And that coming out of the out of halftime and into the third quarter, every NBA team sees the same challenge, but fans like to linger in the clubs and the lounges and they slowly stroll in midway through the third quarter. if you recall, our whole vision for Intuit Dome is fans in the seats. We want fans watching the game, want fans cheering the team on, we want them to help impact the game. And if they're hanging out in the clubs and lounges, that impacts us you know to kind of help us with that we eliminate TVs in the clubs and lounges so you can't watch the game in the club love we want you in the interval so we go to Candy Crush we say hey help us solve for this we a game on our halo board where ⁓ as fan comes in after halftime and ⁓ I'll have back up a little bit because ⁓ we have going through each of the seats so that allows us to put a four button Pad on the seat on the armrest it allows us to have an LED light ⁓ ⁓ us to charge our phone there ⁓ allows us to ⁓ with it with an NFC chip that's installed there so if we want to prompt the fans to Download something by tapping the their armrest they can do that with the NFC chip So ⁓ we have all of that capability so we go to candy crush and we say hey help us all for this and let's create a game that is each fan comes into the inner bowl Coming of halftime and they push the button ⁓ a checkerboard on the halo lights up. And more and more of these checkerboard pieces light up, once we to a certain level, then we'll have our game entertainment team come out and shoot prizes into the crowd and shoot things which all love to see. ⁓ Adam: Ha Scott: So, you know, the first game we ran it, a lot of the fans were like, huh, this is interesting. They didn't really see what was happening. And then the second game, fans were literally running over people to get to their seat and pushing the buttons. And if someone wasn't sitting next to them, they're pushing that button because they want the board to light up so that they can get the prizes shot out to them. So, you know, it's things like that where we go to a partner, we want you to help us solve for this. We think this is a great synergy with what your game is and Candy Crush. create something together and something memorable and into a dome and we've been able to accomplish that with them. ⁓ Adam: Okay. That's really interesting about Candy Crush. You mentioned that this was kind of an existing problem. One thing that I was interesting that you brought up about AT &T and ticket masters, you're thinking about all of these things as the new venue was being built. from your perspective, you said obviously one of the things that you were interested in to the Clippers is obviously the new venue that is now at Dewitt Dill. ⁓ ⁓ a partnership perspective for something like the AT &T experience, which is something you have to think about as you're doing the construction, ⁓ early did you engage with partners? obviously as they're part of the being part of the venue and allows for more organic know activation and ways to showcase their products or offerings or technology. When did you start having those conversations? How do you start thinking about those conversations? Particularly as more more sports organizations are thinking about you know either new builds or renovating their current builds. You know how early did you engage with partners in process? Scott: We brought CAA on board probably a year and a half before groundbreaking. So we had a relationship with CAA about four and a half years. Our goal in working with them was really just to expand our reach. A lot of new venues. tap into an agency because my team of four sellers now becomes a team of 24, 28 sellers globally. And they've got a lot of relationships that we may not even have. So we brought CAA on to work with. were fantastic. Worked with them, I would say six to eight months in, we really started to identify some naming rights partners. We had a few lined up. Obviously one of those was Intuit. And our goal was to have a naming rights partner by groundbreaking. And groundbreaking was three years out. It was a three year build. So we had about a year and a half that we wanted to close the aiming right seal. And literally it was down to the wire. We got into it signed day or two before groundbreaking. And it was many, ⁓ late nights ⁓ the holiday. We had Labor Day we were working with and ⁓ was like no vacations for anybody. We gotta get this signed. So did. But that the stage for everyone else because We needed to know who our naming rights partner was before we went out into the market with our founding deals and more traditional partnerships because we didn't want to sell a category. Let's say it's a low seven figure category. didn't want to sell that category if we had a naming rights partner ⁓ may buy it for many, dollars. ⁓ So got to sell naming rights first and that's why we were out in front of it so far in advance. ⁓ Thankfully worked out really well for us where they did sign. They've been a great partner to work with. with and then from there we started to the other gaps with founding partners and selling other key assets throughout the building. Adam: Were they involved though from like an actual building, like the physical creation of spaces or, know, one reason we reconnected recently is about premium spaces and how you guys think about premium spaces and want to get into that as well. from a build perspective, were they involved, were partners involved at all in terms of like, we were interested in these types of spaces or experiences, AT &T or otherwise. Scott: Yeah, with all of our partners, we an introduction to our chief technology officer. And ⁓ in cases, those partners, find something that ⁓ we can through our partners. So it is an ⁓ organic partnership. not ⁓ a sign that putting up or a promotion that we're running. ⁓ We are ⁓ using their yeah, and that's the case several of our partners. Intuit was one that we made the introduction to and introduced them to our and they've kind of helped in a few different areas. Adam: And then one other thing before we enter into the premium space, I really wanted to jump into, you you said create using the point of entry and using the Clippers app and using everything to create a personalized fan experience for everybody inside the Intuit Dome. So what does that mean practically? How do you try to do that or actually do do that, I should say, in terms of creating this personalized experience, leveraging ⁓ analytics, ⁓ know, everything that you guys can have access to to create these personalized experiences. ⁓ Scott: Well, with that personalized experience, there's a lot that we know about each individual fan based on what they do at Intuit Dome. So know what time they arrived and can reward them with a prize, ⁓ you know, ⁓ a free churro. Thanks for here early. Here's a free churro. You ⁓ know, we can a push notification ⁓ to them. So want to create ⁓ ⁓ to impact and real important incentive is you know, to get people here early and reward them with prizes as a result. That would be the incentive. But, you know, we want to impact behavior. we know when they get here, we know what they're buying, you when they go to the concession areas. So if we wanted to partner with, you know, one of our vendors to say, hey, thanks for purchasing whatever, when you came to Intuit Dome, here's 20 % off through a relationship that we have with some third party to purchase the same thing at your local grocery store. I we can create things like that. meters that hang from the halo board. Now what does that allow us to do? Well we know where the sound is coming from. We can't hear your conversations. ⁓ We don't want to hear what you're talking about. We do hear the sound that's coming from each individual seat. We have it down to the seat. And so what can we do with that information? Well we can reward loudest fan of the game ⁓ by using data ⁓ say this person ⁓ the most Adam: But... Right. Scott: in the fourth quarter we'll give them a prize. ⁓ there may be a section, we may say, hey, thanks for being such a great section here, here's a free water on us, ⁓ this at the ⁓ There's a lot of things that we can do with the data and to be honest, we're just tapping the surface, we're just getting started with it. ⁓ those are some of the things that we're capable of doing just by ⁓ ⁓ fans. Adam: And then what's been the partner and fan response? Obviously having this level of data provides a new level, a novel level of insight, even to the point, like you just said, like, you can find out who the loudest fan was or is. ⁓ obviously can be pretty interesting to see who's the most enthusiastic, but also it gives you a level of data and insight that is and ⁓ from perspective, better ⁓ in of understanding the fans. what's been the response from fans partners about ⁓ you guys this level of later. Scott: been fantastic. We created a rewards program this season to people with different ⁓ things you can earn points and you can earn rewards with more points that you receive throughout ⁓ the season. so, ⁓ you know, fans can win something ⁓ by being part of it, ⁓ they're ⁓ Fans ⁓ know, free or free chicken sandwich or relationship with chicken. ⁓ Yes. ⁓ Adam: I don't think it's a lot of churros. love churros too, but it seems like a big one. ⁓ Scott: We love churros and an inside joke there that actually our chief technology officer ⁓ churros. So it was all about the churros and making sure we had the right vendor for churros. Adam: Well, making sure like all the data unbelievably says everybody loves churros. I can't believe that worked out. Scott: That's right, that's Tough to pass on. Adam: But yeah, I but that's a good example, right? It's like whether it does say that or not, but like understanding that people like churros or whatever it is that the data that you're collecting, you know, how does that influence? those conversations that you have, particularly on the partnership side, but also like how you're thinking about fans and fan engagement and what to have in venue, even the types of promotions and prizes that you're having obviously can be determined by the data. So how do you think of, are you guys using that or how are you using that exactly in order to kind of maximize your commercialization and overall fan engagement? Scott: Well, again, I think we're just getting started on what we can use the data for. Initially, it was, ⁓ start this rewards program. Let's see what comes in through the ⁓ What are the habits that we want to drive with fans, getting there early and ⁓ purchasing We want fans to... you know, to engage with app. And so there's rewards built into all of those things. But again, I think we're just really getting started. You know, know, gosh, ⁓ know what of our fans have only been to one game. ⁓ And it's... Adam: Yeah. Scott: You know, it's a number that we then can say, OK, let's system the numbers 20%. We can then take that other 80 % and say, gosh, if we can get that 80 % to another game, what does that mean to our bottom line? And how can we incentivize them to do that? All right, we know we came to a game, and maybe there's an offer that we can provide for a game or a group offer or something, or some other incentive inside the building merchandise credit or something that we can get them to come to one more game. I if we can just impact that group, then we've done quite a bit with that data. Adam: Yeah, and one thing I wanted to talk about just before we hit the premium in the hospitality side is, you know, when you talk about loudest fans and fans who are probably coming to more than one game, it's those who sit in the wall and just how the wall impacts the overall experience and how, you know, I think there are a lot of probably secondary or multiplier effects that the wall has. just A, ⁓ is the wall for people who don't know and B, how does that impact the other ⁓ of your business, ⁓ inside the venue? Scott: If you go back to what the vision for Intuit Dome was, look at a lot of these venues that are built, they take on the personality of the owner ⁓ the chairman. ⁓ everybody knows Steve as the greatest. Steve is going nuts. mean, he's Intuit and he wants everybody else to be Intuit like he is. Yeah, well, that makes it easy. Adam: Yeah. Ha. Does he have to be into it because it's the Intuit Scott: Yeah, that makes it easy to be able to tell that that's why the we love our relationship into it because it's an easy tag on words. But so we want everybody to be as engaged as Steve and how do we do that? How do we actually impact the game? And so the vision from day one was let's create the greatest home court advantage possible. And if you look at sports and those that have ⁓ greatest impact on the game, ⁓ got to look at, you know, college athletics, ⁓ basketball, that home court advantage if you're a Duke fan and the Cameron Crazies and things like that. Or there's a lot of teams that we visited overseas that our CEO and Steve visited overseas to see what their fan section was about. And here right in our backyard at LAFC, they've got a great fan section behind the goal. And so those venues impact the outcome of the game. And if they're able to do that, how do we create that into a dome? Well, we wanted to create the wall, which is 51 uninterrupted. It's as steep as fire code would allow us to get. I mean, if you're standing at the top of the ball, I you're looking straight down. And it is a wall of fans. And within that, we have the swell, which is a few hundred, like, of our, basically our super fans that are on their feet nonstop. I mean, those fans are cheering, chanting everything that you would see again in a soccer game overseas or college basketball game or whatever. I mean, that's that group. And they're doing lots of different antics. Adam: Yeah. Scott: to try to get into the heads of the opposing team's players. Well, last season ⁓ our first year at Intuit Dome. And was the impact that the wall had on the opposing team when shooting free throws? Well, the worst throw percentage in the NBA ⁓ last season shot against the wall by the opposing team. ⁓ So what built and what we created worked. I think our three point percentages shooting into the wall ⁓ was among one the worst. ⁓ Adam: Yeah. Scott: bottom five. And so we created an environment that allows us to really impact game and we're really really proud of that. This past year we actually flew the wall to vans that sit on the wall ⁓ to road game to see if they could help impact ⁓ the ⁓ Unfortunately game didn't turn out so well but those are of the types of things that we're willing to do for our fans. ⁓ Adam: you But we know from our own analysis, effective field goal percentage is the thing that drives winning the most. And if you can impact three point percentage and free throw percentage, that'll actually have a tangible impact on winning in addition to the overall experience. that's, you know, obviously not news to your team, but I think it can be something to think about, right? As particularly as you're building the venue, there are ways that actually can impact the, you know, on court experience while also having the multiplier effect of the off court experience by making it more exciting to beat them. And then one of the other things though on the other side of that, on the flip side is the premium experience and how you think about premium and how you create, you we talked about this a little bit at the conference we were at, but it was, you know, how do you create unique premium experiences, particularly in a city and, you know, DMA like LA where there are a lot of premium options. So, you know, from your perspective, how do you think about premium and how do you think about having a premium experience that drives people, you know, people, companies, creators, whoever you're trying to attract to the experience and to Intuit Dome. Scott: Well, this is LA and there are a lot of options the sports entertainment perspective. So ⁓ Intuit Dome, we wanted to create an option that's one of one, one that you cannot find anywhere else in the NBA. ⁓ if you look at the suites that we have available, you with the Cabana suite. ⁓ So Cabana is ⁓ four ⁓ separate ⁓ located behind the basket, just behind Steve's seats. Actually rows four and five. And you have suite that is know, it almost looks like, you know, underneath a ship which was designed that way. This tight that tight ⁓ but spacious the sense where you've got your own bartender there, you've got, ⁓ you know, and everything. ⁓ But as as you walk out, you're there in your seats rows three, four and five. And it's ⁓ like a patio that you have. You've even got a sofa ⁓ in the back. it's this really unique ⁓ Experience that you can't find anywhere else in the NBA I share that also because I've got a brother who's a courtside seat holder in in Utah for the Utah Jets And he's like free throw line extended some of the greatest seats that you can ⁓ Which by the way if you've got feet on the wood courtside seats in the NBA I don't think there's a better sports experience out there. ⁓ ⁓ as good as it gets and so I've got my brother coming in town and I say hey Why you come in town and catch a game at our new stadium? He's like, ⁓ I know. I've got pretty good seats here. I'm Adam: Completely agree. Scott: I said, I think I've got something that my rival knows and he's like impossible. And I said, just come out, check it out. Brought him into the cabana suite. We sat in there and he said, all right, got me. Like this, although feet on the wood, nothing is better. know, people that are feet on the wood, it's like two seats or four seats. People aren't, it's not a whole ⁓ of people. You're not getting 10 people there, courtside of your family and friends. ⁓ the cabana, you've got 11 seats. You got, you ⁓ co-workers, clients, family, whoever you want, and you all have incredible seats, you're all interacting together, and you've got a suite that's connected to it. And so if there's anything that rivals a courtside seat, it's gotta be the Caban. So we've got four, and we've got three sold, there's only one left, and we sell it on a per game basis, you know, until it's sold. Adam: One of the we discussed is you maybe people getting closer, you know, you obviously mentioned you can't be on the court necessarily, but getting these premium experiences as close as possible to the court and to the action. Are you seeing obviously that it seems like obviously resonated with your brother, but also resonating with some of your other clients who are looking to, you know, that was one of the things that we talked about a little bit is that, people with these premium experiences, because they can be far removed from the action, people would actually prefer to be closer. Was that something by design? Obviously you mentioned it's right behind Steve. Is that something you guys thought about as part of the construction? Scott: Absolutely. wanted, we didn't want people to have to choose between do I want to sit in a suite and have some space or do I want to have great seats and enjoy the game? know with our premium seating options starting with the Cabana you get both. You got great seats and you got a suite. You know next up is our bungalows which is more of a traditional bunker suite. We've got 10 on each side. You've got from 12 to 14 seats in those. But there ⁓ ⁓ you've a or you've got a suite behind the stands there. You walk down a little hallway and then you're in rows seven through ten, which is about rim level between the baskets. And for someone that loves to take in the game and see the whole floor and see how the plays come together, that may be their best seat. You sometimes when you sit too close, you're too close. You can't see everything ⁓ the action is right in front of you. But when you're a few rows removed in the bungalows, now you've got incredible seats that are about room level you can see all the action take place. Well those bungalows you also get for all events similar to cabana you get for all events ⁓ there's a concert ⁓ rows seven through ten become rows one through three for concert so because the one through six get ⁓ retracted for stage and floor seats and that kind of thing ⁓ and for someone that wants to sit and enjoy a concert it's the seat in the house in the bungalows. So again we don't want our fans to have to choose. If you want a great premium experience, you can have a suite plus great seats. And so those are our two main products. Now beyond that, we've got our halo suites, which again is a little bit more of a traditional suite, of mid-level, mid-tier, with all the food and the amenities and all the concerts and everything that comes with it. And then just above that, we have our halo lofts, which are if you're looking for or four or six or eight seater because you can't fill a full suite, all those ⁓ events, then you opt for that and you get all events plus your own dining table and buffet experience. Adam: And so far, nobody misses the TVs or they talked about the TVs this week. Scott: You know, it was an adjustment. I'll tell you that. It was an adjustment because a lot of our premium suite holders, they may have suites in other venues. And so they'll come in and they'll be like, you know, they do have some TVs in ⁓ suites, but clubs and lounges do not. And so it was, yeah, it was an adjustment, but I'll tell you, six months in, they're like, all right, I get it. I get it because I'm in the stands. I don't to miss a single second of the action. Adam: You're right, exactly. Scott: They respect you're not going to make everybody happy. Some people are still going to want their sweet in the club. But you're looking at the vision for Intuit Dome and to create the greatest home court advantage, ⁓ you've people in their seats. ⁓ Adam: Well, it goes to our five. I was gonna say it goes to our final question, which is what we're asking all of our guests is the impact of, clearly the impact of artificial intelligence and the artificial intelligence explicitly on the sports world. One of the thesis we have at ⁓ Roar and at Surge is that actually artificial intelligence can catalyze in real life experiences and that people are gonna want these of experiences where technology maybe drives them to want more community, want more engagement, want to have these more in-person events. ⁓ know, obviously in the context of televisions, right, if you eliminate televisions people can be more focused. Obviously that was the goal is to get people more focused on the games. But from your perspective do you see that ⁓ A, that's one way that you guys are thinking is that artificial intelligence maybe is a boon for the in real life experience element of the Clippers business or and B just from your perspective as obviously a senior executive and decision maker how do you see artificial intelligence impacting your day-to-day work? Scott: I mean, it's impacting everybody's day to day work. We're seeing it, I mean, just in our landscape. mean, you know, from sales outreach, you tap into AI and its resources, from identifying leads, we're using AI for helping build decks for, you know, potential partners, we're using AI. know, ticketing is using AI. Marketing, I mean, all across the organization, we just hired a full-time person that's all ⁓ focused AI and allowing us to maximize all the opportunities that AI provides us. And ⁓ like most organizations, are just tapping the surface of it. ⁓ Adam: I was going say, how much has that changed, either since the beginning of the year or the last six months? Because I've seen a real acceleration. Scott: Daily, mean literally daily. We start every leadership meeting with cool and ⁓ things have you done with AI recently. Not just from a professional standpoint, but from a personal ⁓ And it is changing ⁓ the We're creating all sorts of new ideas by tapping into AI and its resources. So. It's a tremendous technology that will absolutely change the world. Now nothing will replace ⁓ sports. The in-person sports experience and how you come together and how you become best friends with someone you just met at a game ⁓ that never forget for the rest of your life because of some shared moment that you had, that's what brings. ⁓ And no in the world is gonna ever replace that or no ⁓ really cool home experience is going to replace that. So it's a matter of utilizing technology to enhance whatever you're working on from a business perspective. Again, we're using it in different areas that we have, but we're really just getting started. We literally just hired our full-time person about three weeks ago, and we're having weekly meetings with her to better understand how we can be useful. Adam: Yeah, it's something that we get asked about a lot because we're infusing AI into a of our stuff. I think just, A, I think it's good to hear that you guys are doing that as well. But B, I do genuinely believe that artificial intelligence will make exactly what you said about sports. There's nothing that replaces sports. If anything, it enhances the importance of sports and entertainment because those are the types of communal experiences that people are going to want. And clearly, that's obviously a bet that the Clippers are making as well, or it seems like it. I shouldn't speak for this. Scott: Yep, absolutely. Absolutely. No, question. No question about it. Adam: You're obviously right here, you can speak for yourself. Well, Scott, it's great to have you on the podcast. Appreciate the time, appreciate the insights. thank you for being a guest on the LORE podcast. ⁓ Scott: Glad to do it. Look forward to seeing you again.